July 22, 2012

Answering Anti-Gay Biblical Literalists- Part One- Understanding Their Side

They look (with a mixture of revulsion and pity) at the quiet, creative, effeminate teenager or the
out of the closet news anchor or you and your life partner minding your own business. Although you did not ask for their opinion or even care to
hear it, they feel it necessary to declare, “Homosexuality is a sin! The BIBLE
SAYS SO!”

Of course, they are entitled to their opinion.

Free belief and free speech are fundamental rights. But so
too is everyone’s right to a private family life, equality under the law and
freedom to love, live, be productive and happy, at least in most civilized,
western democracies.

The problem is that many anti-gay biblical literalists claim
that you, as an LGBT person do not deserve to enjoy those aforementioned human
rights, at least not while living as your sexuality dictates. Since they cannot
make a valid case scientifically, sociologically, civilly and legally that the
equally valid and happy existence of LGBT people will rob anyone else of their
fundamental rights or ruin the planet, they are left with one last resort. You
are not only making them
uncomfortable, especially if they have to explain society’s acceptance of you
to their children, you are making God very pissed off!

In fact, they claim that every
time you feel attraction, get a crush, fall in love or make love, God gets
madder and madder with you. Some will
even go as far as to say that living your life honestly is the gravest sin of sins. How
do they intend to prove this is actually true? By using the bible, which they
claim is God’s infallible word and the final authority on everything that
exists, everything we could ever do or conceive of doing, even things the
bronze-aged men who wrote it had no concept of in their time. And so, armed
with this assertion and the 66 books, they go campaigning for punitive action
against LGBT people at worst or at best quoting biblical verses out of good
intentions with the hope it will cause you to feel just as they do.

How do you deal with such people? How do you answer them? Why
bother answering them at all?

Well the bible-thumpers who are impassioned, virulent,
unstable and clearly beyond reasoning I would indeed recommend ignoring them and
if their actions go beyond free expression and descend into harassment, they
should be met with zero tolerance.

But many who express their biblical objections to LGBT
people are not foaming at the mouth or picketing the funerals of soilders. They
condemn gays and lesbians with smiling civility and purport to be reasonable
people with no hate in their heart. Lately such people are also met with zero
tolerance and many gay activists and their supporters would argue, rightfully so especially when these
“love the sinner hate the sin” types inconsiderately and some would say
irresponsibly express their courteous condemnations at inappropriate times for
example in public response to gay teen suicide and bullying.

After the spate of
gay suicides and bullying of gay teens, certain spokespeople took the opportunity to inappropriately blame the victims for being
homosexual. The complete lack of empathy on their part was even more gut-curdling
than the foaming at the mouth Gods Hates Fags people because it was done often with a big smile.

Some dismiss anti-gay bible thumpers because they find their
presumption and lack of perspective ludicrous. After all, isn’t the Old
Testament just another set of myths, skewed history, illogical and
chronologically flawed writings by bronze aged, tribesmen who did not even know
that the earth revolved around the sun and microorganisms caused diseases? Was
not the New Testament compiled by a corrupt, politically motivated Roman
Catholic Church Empire in an attempt to forge a new imperial religion that
could render Judaism defunct and compete with the Sun-worship and incarnating
blood sacrificing deities of the pagans they wished to conquer? Obviously the
people who believe the bible is the infallible, direct word of God must be just
a little…well, nuts. Right?

Although this atheistic response is au current in most
developed first world nations, here in the Caribbean, people still place a
great deal of authority on holy texts, particularly the bible. They will not be
dismissed so easily with a Bill Maher or Christopher Hitchens quote. This
approach is also unhelpful in elevating and enlightening the continued dialogue
on the subject. Nothing ever gets resolved. Instead, both sides simply dig in
deeper with greater resentment and over-defensiveness.

Shutting down debate by degrading the bible accomplishes nothing.

In a previous essay on Bullying,
I mentioned that a fear of delving into contentious debate when someone says, “Well God’s word says…” and simply going
the route of censorship will degrade our society into a bunch of sissies who
cannot deal with differences of opinion nor critically weigh two opposing views
without feeling threatened and persecuted.

I have taken on bible thumpers in person, on live radio, in
letters to the editor of newspapers, in online chat rooms and discussion boards
and I have never once had to resort to threats, ad hominem or other fallacious
arguments. Perhaps the reason why I am able to do this is because I feel no
resentment towards the bible or bible believers. It may not seem that way to them though. Many Christians
who chance upon my blog get bent out of shape. But I am not defaming the individual believer. If any religion
claims to have an absolute monopoly on truth and God’s favor, you cannot blame one for questioning and
criticizing the existence of
atrocious, ignorant or powerless manifestations within that religion.

I was made to read the bible over and over while growing up
in a staunch evangelical household and I have found, despite all the flaws and
atrocities great universal truths in both the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. So
too have a lot of people, spiritual and not. You do not have to be a legalistic
fundamentalist Christian in order to appreciate the bible. In fact, I have
found that being a legalistic, fundamentalist Christian may actually hinder a
deeper appreciation of the bible because you are made to treat it with kid
gloves and operate on many false assumptions which the theologically
trained clergy hesitate to dissuade you, even if they know you are not seeing
things for what they really are.

I still meet
Christians today who truly believe that the apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were the
literal authors of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

As an A student of Literature all the way up to Cambridge A
Levels, this treatment of the scriptures bugged me no end. You see, on the one
hand, I was being taught at school that in order to truly understand and
appreciate any written work, you had to take the gloves off and tear into
it.

Only with the bible are we asked to abandon all reason and treat it like a mystical object.

In order to understand Shakespeare and Chaucer, I first had
to glean an appreciation of old English and the idiomatic meanings of words. I
had to understand the Middle Ages, the society, the culture and commonly held
beliefs subjective to the time. At no time did my teacher give a pre-arranged
doctrine about Hamlet or A Knight’s Tale and then taught me how
to apologetically defend it with selective quotes. Instead, I was made to
discover the writing on its own merit.
This was a far cry from how the bible was being taught during bible study. It
was not “study” in the purest sense of the word, but indoctrination and regurgitation
which made me, like most Christians, woefully biblically illiterate.

I am telling you this because if you choose to reason with a
bible quoting condemner of homosexuality, instead of dismissing them or
censoring them, you must first understand what it means to be biblically
illiterate. In fact there are Four Biblical Illiteracy Factors.

Bible Illiteracy Factor 1

A person who is biblically illiterate pays no heed to the
type of translation they use or the process by which it now sits in their hand.
As far as they are concerned, it is the Living Word made paper…and leather and
ink. With this book, they can speak for God himself in plain English. In fact, they act as if that was the original language of the writers. They can tell others right now of what God thinks RIGHT
NOW about anything, anyone, any situation. For this book is the very mind of God. And it only costs around $30 (unless you
get a free copy)and weighs less than a pound. They truly believe that the
Almighty Being who created the entire Universe can be predicted, quoted and
represented by just opening this book.

Even if the bible were infallible what makes people so
presumptuously certain that their understanding of it is also infallible? Not
even the most accomplished student of literature ever claims to know exactly
the mind of the human author whose work they spend a lifetime examining, far
less a tome written by a Higher Intelligence.

Certain Christians use the bible in order to present themselves as the spokespeople for God who have intimate knowledge of God's mind, opinions, future plans on everything and everyone.

Most Christians who approach the bible in this way have no
idea that this fetish-like, magic 8 ball relationship with the scriptures is
actually a very recent thing in
Christian history. In fact, you can bet that if someone views the bible this
way, they also are entirely ignorant about the history of the Christian faith.

Biblical Illiteracy
Factor 2

A person who is biblically illiterate is not very concerned
with what bible verses ACTUALLY MEAN. They are only concerned about what bible
verses SAY when they need certain things SAID in order to confirm the
particular doctrine or social tradition they were taught alongside the bible.

I
will use the example of the social tradition of corporal punishment. In order
to defend it, many will quote verses like: “He that spareth his rod hateth his
son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes” Proverbs 13:24 or “Foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him.” Proverbs 22:15.

At first glance certain verses in the bible do seem to SAY that beating your
child with a rod is a good thing. But is that really what these verses MEAN?

Dig just a little deeper into the Hebrew language, culture,
poetic metaphors common at the time and you will discover that the word for rod
or staff is shebet. It is actually a
crooked staff used by shepherds to manage their flock. Now, shepherds do not
beat the sheep with the rod but use the crooked staff to hook a wayward sheep
by the neck and guide it back where it belonged. As a result of this cultural
practice, the word shebet was also
commonly used as a metaphor for wisdom or authority. When in Exodus, it says that Moses was told by
God that “with this staff you will lead the people out of Egypt,” it does not
mean the literal shebet but the
figurative shebet- with this wisdom and authority you will lead the people out of Egypt.

Proverbs is a book filled with metaphors and that is why its
writer can say, “Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest
him with the rod, he shall not die.” Proverbs 23:13. If indeed the bible is
true, this scripture can only makes sense if the rod is a symbolic one, after all every year, thousands of children die from
being beaten with “rods of correction”.

Human life is lost when
people do not take the time to understand a book they claim to be God’s word.

Unfortunately, for the biblically illiterate, understanding
what the bible MEANS, is too tedious a process. You have to get hold of a
Hebrew and Greek concordance, read up biblical scholars, Jewish scholars, anthropology
and archeology that reveal the context of the writing, the culture of the
people, cross-reference with similar writings for clarification. Too much work
for the intellectually lazy! Others who are not lazy are simply not equipped to
do the research or have been told they don’t have to go through all that
trouble. Which brings us to the next factor of biblical illiteracy you must
understand before you engage in debate.

Biblical Illiteracy
Factor 3

The biblical illiterate believe that they will be mystically
bestowed accurate understanding. Even with just a second grade
education they CAN BE A BIBLE EXPERT.

If it requires special spiritual powers to understand the bible and two equally sincere people claiming to have received those powers from God after sincerely praying yet have come away with two entirely different understandings of the same verse, which one do you believe?

What is amazing is that so many never wonder how come the holy
spirit always seems to guide them exactly
where their pastor wants them to be. When someone tells you, “I was guided by
holy spirit to understand this scripture, so you must believe me!” or “If you were guided by holy spirit, you will
understand things exactly the same
way I am trying to show you,” what they are actually saying is that you must
put your faith in them without asking them the obvious question: “How do you know it was actually the holy spirit
guiding you or the pastor/priest/reverend that taught you? How do you prove it
could not possibly be any other emotion, mental state or trigger? What
faculties do you use to distinguish the difference?”

The irony is, many bible believers will tell you how
unreliable things like logic and science are but what they offer as a superior
methodology to enlightenment is actually entirely
subjective. Call me an arrogant, elitist intellectual all you like for
wanting things to be a little more definitive
and objective when it will be used to
dictate how others live their lives and what human rights they enjoy.

We trust evidence over speculation in almost every aspect of our daily life including a court of law. We need to have things proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in order to justify any action we take that will rob someone of their freedom or life or else it does not sit well on our conscience

You and I were given the ability to reason, discover solid
laws and depend on them enough to explore space and perform open heart surgery.
Why would an Almighty Being feel threatened by our exercise of the faculties it gave us?
Yes, knowledge is power but no amount
of empowerment we achieve could ever intimidate a truly Almighty Being that is
also supposed to be benevolent. The human custodians of religion on the other
hand, well, that is another story. The empowerment of their fellowmen is often the last thing on their agendasand they inculcate their followers in being forever dependent and disempowered.

Does a human
grandfather feel threatened when his grandchild makes her first steps or does
he instead feel proud and happy?

I hope you fully understand the factors at play in many of those
who come at you with their biblical justifications for why LGBT people should
be treated as second class citizens. Once you do, you are ready to learn how to
reply to them. Knowing one’s opponent in any battle and that includes philosophical
debate is very important and that is why the best rebuttals to this argument come
from those who actually KNOW THEIR BIBLE and sadly most do not, on both sides of the issue.

Even among
those who do know and can stand up to anti-gay biblical literalists with solid
bible-based rebuttals, a kind of weariness sets in after a while when you have
to make the same argument over and
over again. But do not stop! Your counteraction is very important. Why?

Well, it is important for two reasons. I mentioned one
earlier. Nobody’s holy text should be used as justification for robbing another
human being of their fundamental human right to a private family life, equality
under the law and freedom to love, live, be productive and happy if that person
in no way threatens the fundamental human rights of anyone else.

The second reason is even more important and I warn you, I
am about to use some fighting words. Here it goes:

Anti-gay biblical literalists are hypocrites.

They may not be consciously aware that they are acting like
Pharisees but they are. You may have noticed that I said earlier that there are
Four Biblical Illiteracy Factors but
so far I only mentioned three. I saved the fourth for last.

Biblical Illiteracy
Factor 4

All biblical illiterate people inadvertently find themselves
cherry-picking, back-tracking , falling into inconsistencies and failing to
carry the same burdens they try to load upon the shoulders of others.

For example, they have no problem cherry-picking Leviticus
18:20 out of the 613 Mosaic Laws in order to condemn sexually active (and even
celibate, virginal) homosexual men and teens. They will even use it to get the
Government to take punitive action against adult, consensual, relationships,
even committed ones lasting many years. But ask these same people why they do not also follow the other 612 laws. How
come they do not ask the Government to enact the death penalty against people
who work on the Sabbath or quarantine menstruating women or declare themselves
unclean after a wet dream or stone children who throw an expletive filled
temper tantrum? Why do they eat shrimp and tuck into the Christmas ham with
gusto every year?

This is the main
reason why we must engage and answer anti-gay literalists. They are being
dishonest not only with themselves but all of society. The same honesty that made you live your life truthfully despite persecution and rejection is what should drive you to set the hypocrite…straight.

The same unflappable need to be honest that made you come out of the closet even if it meant waiting generations before the rest of society learned to be tolerant, should make you fight hypocristy when you find it.

Next installment, we will show how the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures, namely: Genesis 19 (The
Story Of Sodom), The Mosaic Law and Kings are wrongly utilized in order to condemn LGBT people today. In
the installment after that, we will explore the New Testament.

2 comments:

I was raised to believe that the bible was infallible, that it was the word of God, that we could not question it or everything would fall down. The question of fallible humans being the ones reading the bible was side stepped as much as possible, other than to say that the holy spirit would guide people and not ALLOW them to get it wrong.

About Me

I was born in Besancon France and grew up in my parents' homeland of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean and now work and travel around the region in the Marketing/Advertising field. My specialty? Trendspotting, consumer behavior, original ideas for companies to do community outreach. However, my true passion lies in solving the global challenges that threaten our planet and its species. To that end, I have been blogging for a long time on my own site and I also wrote a few articles for The Huffington Post. I am a member of the USOLVE School of Social Entrepreneurship and currently doing an Alternative MBA Social Innovation.

I want more understanding, empathy, and enlightenment to influence the human race, starting with me.

I am neither left nor right, I am UP.

The left and right are keeping us going around in circles instead of evolving UPWARD.